Hospitals in Norfolk experienced a reduction in thefts, according to figures from a Freedom of Information request.

New figures show that 20 thefts took place at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital last year, compared to 39 thefts at the Colney site in 2011. The hospital declined to say what items were stolen.

At the James Paget University Hospital, only eight thefts were recorded at the Gorleston site, compared to eight in 2011 and 16 in 2010. Items including shoes, a flatscreen television, lead roofing, money and clothing were taken from the hospital.

Specialist dating websites, for women seeking women and women seeking rich boyfriends, are among the most popular internet pages accessed by council staff at their work computers.

A Freedom of Information request, by Londonlovesbusiness.com, has revealed the 500 most-visited internet pages by Merton Council employees since November 2012 include dating websites, fashion retailers and toy shops.

The website sugardaddie.com – which promises to “deliver a higher grade of person” for women seeking wealthier men – was the 139th most visited, while lesbian dating website pinksofa.com featured at 207.

JesmondLocal has discovered that large amounts of money are still being paid by Newcastle City Council each year for the City Library, despite plans to cut 10 community libraries in the area – including Jesmond’s.

We submitted a Freedom of Information request to the City Council, asking it to detail the funding of the City Library, which opened via a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) in 2009. PFIs were introduced in 1992 as a way of securing private funding for public services.

Photograph of Central Library by Peter McDermott and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons

The FoI request submitted by JesmondLocal reveals that Newcastle City Council paid £3,355,728.25 to the City Library’s developer in 2011-12, of which £3,200,149 was paid for by a grant from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. This made the net cost of the City Library building for the Council that year £155,579.25.

This agreement with the developers of the building will last until March 2034.

Whilst the PFI payments are part of a contract and therefore cannot stop, the annual amount revealed in the FoI request is more than the stated amount of £130,000 per year it would cost to keep Jesmond Library open.